


know thy self, know thy enemy

by seraf



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Ambiguous Relationships, Canon Compliant, Canonical Character Death, Character Study, Introspection, M/M, Oma Kokichi's Birthday, Open to Interpretation, POV Oma Kokichi, happy birthday little rat bastard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 06:34:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19312609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/seraf/pseuds/seraf
Summary: they’re all liars, in the end. and kokichi knows how they all lie.he'll pick them apart if he has to.





	know thy self, know thy enemy

they’re all liars, in the end. and kokichi knows how they all lie.

 

rantaro’s eyes are guarded. everything _about_ him is a lie, in a way. wrapped in secrets and suspicion. but he’s far too obvious about it, letting things slip. and his smile - it comes too easily. a shutdown, a barrier. kokichi has been rantaro before. you can’t let them see the potential for there to be much behind the mask. you can’t show that you _have_ a hand to begin with, let alone tell them some of your cards.

 

he knows rantaro won’t survive the game. ( he thinks a part of rantaro guesses as much, too. )

 

_it’s nothing. don’t listen to me._

 

kokichi wants to shake his shoulders, at that. what a pathetic lie.

 

kaede’s words are lies, even if she doesn’t mean for them to be. _let’s all be friends_ is an empty sentiment, as is _working together_ and _let’s keep up hope_ and every other saccharine catchphrase that comes out of her mouth.

 

it’s obvious to him that she knows something, during the trial.

 

_but that’s kaede’s lie, isn’t it?_

 

someone needs to point it out. even if it just paints him as the villain a little bit more.

 

( ryoma doesn’t really care enough to lie, except by omission, and _that’s_ how kokichi knows he’s given up. unless you’re an idiot, lying goes hand in hand with living, and he can give enough credit to ryoma’s intelligence. )

 

he’s the only one who sees through kirumi.

 

she’s the foil to ryoma - that’s how she did it in the first place, anyway. she has too _much_ will to live. it’s almost animalistic, her deep desire to _live -_ it comes before any one of them. she would do anything, he knows.

 

and he can read her crocodile tears.

 

angie . . . angie is a liar in a very dangerous sort of way. she has complete faith that atua _is_ real, kokichi has no doubt about that. but she is willing to lie to others to join her cult. for her, the ends justify the means. atua needs devotees, does he not? he is an open and willing god. he will take freely those who have been lied to.

 

a black-haired, red-eyed god. a handsome god. like a grandmother’s warm embrace. willing to find the soul in lines of code and heartless metal.

 

he wonders if anyone else realizes it’s all a lie.

 

if atua was real, why wouldn’t he have saved his prophet?

 

tenko is a _bad_ liar. he sees through her in a moment flat - she’s not the type to be brainwashed easily. he thinks there’s a chance angie sees through her, too. she’s the kind of girl who looks down on lying, and he can tell she’s struggling with it when she puts too much emphasis on being a student council member, fumbles her words, hangs her head.

 

the best lie she ever tells is _okay, himiko! i’ll see you later!_

 

korekiyo is . . . confusing. he has two sets of tells. when his voice becomes a little higher, more lilting, he’s more likely to lie, and seemingly at random, too, like he’s just looking to see how people react. he’s good at it.

 

but not as good as kokichi.

 

he’s composed. he does not waver. he doesn’t get flustered.

 

until he _does,_ and kokichi finally understands why he lies in two different ways.

 

( he’s been watching both of their tells for long enough to know that she’s lying to him, and his execution only proves as much. )

 

miu’s terrible at lying.

 

it’s her downfall.

 

he knew what she was planning before he took his first step in the virtual world.

 

gonta _isn’t_ a liar. he isn’t, by all accounts he isn’t and shouldn’t be, kokichi has never once seen him lie, but right now he indisputably _is,_ because kokichi knows what happened and knows gonta killed her, but gonta is saying that he doesn’t understand.

 

and he’s _not_ lying.

 

kokichi can’t tell that he’s lying, wouldn’t know if he hadn’t been there himself, and if he’s honest, that’s _terrifying_ to him.

 

he almost breaks character for a moment, hurrying to lay everything bare, just so gonta will stop _lying._ because it’s not right. out of everyone here, he never -

 

he cries as gonta heads to his execution, and even he can’t tell if that’s a lie or not.

 

maki . . . maki is more of a liar than he is. at least he’s _honest_ about what he is, and isn’t that just the funniest part? he’s said from the very beginning that he’s a liar, and admits to it half the time. but she’s a killer, and she’s willing to come for him, and she cares much less about the rest of the group than she’s come to show.

 

he knows she’ll be the one to throw his plans awry. he just didn’t expect it to be this soon.

 

she lies about where she was when she left a crossbow bolt embedded an inch away from his spine, and were he around to witness it still, he would have found that hilarious.

 

himiko . . . he’s _glad,_ after tenko dies. she stops lying to herself. it’s . . . something he almost finds admirable. finally, she admits what she feels.

 

keebo is earnest, and he _can’t_ lie. kokichi _thinks_ he can’t lie. keebo throws him off, because he’s a robot, and that means that so many of the little tells people can’t control, like their breathing or their heartrate or the sweat on their skin just don’t apply to him, and that’s something kokichi can’t stand.

 

he doesn’t like not knowing keebo’s creator, either. maybe keebo genuinely believes he’s an honest being. but maybe whoever built him _wasn’t._ maybe keebo doesn’t even know he’s lying.

 

( an assumption that doesn’t prove too far from the truth. )

 

everything depends on kaito being able to lie. _everything_ does.

 

kokichi writes the lies, folds them out in front of him, writes out a script as best he can.

 

the irony of the situation is clear to him; in writing out his most impressive lie yet, he thinks he’s found the truth of _himself._ this script, this plan, his last great stand . . . it’s more true to himself than he’d usually ever be comfortable with being, and a lie bigger than kaito would ever usually be comfortable telling.

 

and _that’s_ what gets them, in the end.

 

shuichi . . . shuichi _frustrates_ him.

 

but shuichi is closest to him when it comes to understanding the nature of lies.

 

after all, there have been - how many times is it, now, that shuichi’s lied to save all of them, in the class trial? sometimes, it’s just _necessary,_ to protect the people around you, and shuichi has learned that. continues to learn that, as they go forwards.

 

kokichi realizes that he desperately wants shuichi to find the truth.

 

he’s wrapped himself up in so many lies he couldn’t say for sure who _he_ is, underneath them all. maybe he _isn’t_ anything, underneath them all.

 

but shuichi lies in the trial and meets his eyes briefly, and kokichi writes out _trustworthy?_ under his photograph and hopes in some part of him he tells himself isn’t really there that shuichi can reveal the truth.

 

( tsumugi shirogane is lying. she’s _always_ lying. he doesn’t even think she’s a real person. he thinks the persona she dons every day might be one more costume. but he can’t prove it, can’t substantiate it with anything more than a liar’s instinct. )

 

( he comes so close in the end to pulling back the curtain. )

**Author's Note:**

> happy birthday you small but knowing clown


End file.
